Lawsuit filed against State’s unemployment insurance system
Users say computer system erroneously accuses them of fraud and then fines them, in one case as much as $20,000
DETROIT — A group of Michigan citizens is suing the State’s unemployment insurance system to stop its illegal and unconstitutional practices. In a federal lawsuit filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, the plaintiffs allege that the State’s practices have deprived them, and thousands of Michigan’s unemployment insurance claimants, of their fundamental rights under the Constitution and under the Social Security Act.
The suit challenges the State’s widespread practice of deciding cases involving serious accusations of fraud through a computer program lacking any human oversight. Under the Unemployment Insurance Agency’s recently instituted “robo-adjudication” system, the Agency regularly accuses people who have filed for unemployment benefits of fraud based on routine discrepancies in the Agency’s information. This has resulted in potentially thousands of Michigan’s unemployed citizens being accused of fraud and assessed onerous financial penalties, despite the fact that they did absolutely nothing wrong. In one case, the fine was as much as $20,000.
Who: Plaintiffs who have been erroneously accused of fraud by the agency
Where: Sugar Law Center, 4605 Cass Ave., Detroit, MI 48201
When: Wednesday, April 22, 2015 at 10:30 a.m.
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